Looking Forward
by Zorcoz
Summary: when the insane life on the road finally wears down the gangs local scaredy cat and he retires from Mystery Inc. it sends waves through the rest of the gang.


He was tired of the fear. Every other God damm week it was just more fear. One week it would be zombies, another ghosts, bigfoot, aliens, demons, fucking demons!

It was too much, he couldn't hold out much longer, soon though he would be done with it all. He had planned it out, crunched the numbers, gotten advisement from professionals whom he had met in his travels, and pinched his pennies. Then invested those pennies in both real estate and the stock market.

He could now proudly declare himself at least somewhat wealthy, enough for his plans at least. It would be wonderful, calm and peaceful in the city that never sleeps, his own place. He dragged his hand lightly across the soft fur of his canine companion, whose head was snoring softly in his lap. Thinking about a bright future to come, he slowly drifted away to his own happy dreams.

~0~

She watched him only for brief moments at a time. Stealing a brief glance here, a peak there. Never for more than a second. Save for moments like this, when the drive had been long and save for their ever vigilant leader who kept his eyes locked on the road ahead.

Everyone was asleep. Then she could take her time, remaining subtle to a degree, but allowing herself much longer looks. His tall and lanky frame rose and fell in time to his deep breaths. His legs splayed out before him, held in place by the large head of the great Dane rested in his lap. A large hand rested sitting still on his furry stomach.

Moving upwards to his head she admired his shaggy brown hair and the small amounts of stubble adorning his chin and jaw. His lips were curled in a small smile. Whatever thoughts occupied his mind, they were happy ones.

That was good, she had noticed lately that his gait had become heavier, and the bags under his eyes seemed to grow ever so slightly deeper. The life they lead was beginning to take its toll, so it made her happy to see him smile, even if it was only in his dreams.

Having seen her fill, she returned her gaze to the road ahead, her mood turning somber. She had wasted her early years chasing after a certain bland haired jock, and by the time she realized her own mistake, it had been to late, and the one she should have pursued had moved passed both her and the rest of the gang, looking far off into the sky hoping for a future that would be unlikely to come.

~0~

He awoke to the lurching sensation of the van coming to a sudden halt. Torn from his pleasant dreams once again. A sigh escaped his mouth, and his breath quickly turned to frost in the air before him. He furrowed his brow in confusion before proposing the question he feared he already knew the answer to, "like, Freddy, where are we man? Last I checked we were in the middle of Arizona, not Alaska."

In the front of the Van Fred replied with an equally confused tone, "As far as I, and the GPS, know. We still are."

As soon as he stated those words both he and Velma, the most studious of the group, had a twinkling gleam appear in their eyes and they quickly vacated the still running automobile like school children on their way to recess. He released a small sigh as he opened the door and his canine companion, Scooby Doo, also bounded out of the vehicle into the nearby snowbank, where he quickly buried his head.

He couldn't help but give a quick laugh at the simplicity of the dogs actions, even at his worst moments, Scooby Doo always brought a smile to his face.

With a final, deep breath, Norville "Shaggy" Rogers took a step out of the van into the still sweltering hot Arizona sunshine.

Now alone in the Van, Daphne Blake sat pondering to herself, not on the mysterious appearance of the snow outside. There was no need for that, Velma would have likely already inspected it and theorized all the possibilities. Besides, the snow outside was already melting and the flash of cold that had depleted the Van's inner heat and caused them all to have a few moments of frosted breath had already faded away, and the Van's temperature was once again climbing steadily towards uncomfortably hot levels.

Instead, the redheads thoughts remained on the topic of Shaggy, and the issues that were obviously bugging him, or at least, obvious to her.

Fred and Velma remained as oblivious to anything but the mystery as always. But she saw the subtle changes, the sag in his shoulders, the deeper bags beneath his eyes, and the much slower stride he now took, as if he wanted to do anything but move closer to the mystery.

In her heart. Daphne knew that the man was only one small push away from leaving the Gang all together, and that push came closer and closer with every passing day. She turned her gaze out the window and set her eyes upon the brown and black spotted canine with his head stuck in the snow outside. The average lifespan of a Great Dane was around 8-10 years, Scooby doo had been around for almost 18 years now, and even though the hound hid the years well behind his playful demeanor, much like his owner the years were beginning to show.

At some point the faithful canine would pass away, and after that point, Daphne would have nothing left to bind him to the brightly colored van and adventures of the Mystery Inc. Crew. She knew he would leave, she just didn't know when.

 **Part II**

The end came out of nowhere, and was expected by no one. It simply came to be that one morning as the sun rose, the great dane that has served as the mascot for the 4 members of the group did not.

If Daphne thought about it she could still hear Shaggy's worried tone as he had shaken the dog that morning, trying fruitlessly to rouse the canine from his eternal slumber. The tears on the edge of his voice had hung a stormcloud over everyone's head that day.

Shortly after Scooby Doo's passing Shaggy announced his decision to depart from Mystery Incorporated, Fred and Velma had tried to offer some weak resistance to get him to stay, but he had made up his mind long before those final moments. Daphne had sat on the sideline the entire time, simply watching the man whom she had spent so many hours on end watching, learning, and yet unable to do anything when it really mattered.

Shaggy was gone only three days after that.

 **Part III**

Four months. That was how long it took for Fred and Velma to move on from the loss of the gangs canine mascot and his shaggy haired owner. Had she the energy or willpower to complain she would have been mad at them, but Daphne just couldn't muster up the spirit. Everything they did now just seemed… off.

Though that could have just been the altered dynamics with which the gang now operated. She shifted her gaze to stare through half closed eyes at Fred and Velma chatting happily in the front seat, Velma's hand placed casually against Fred's inner thigh.

It didn't really shock her all that much when it had happened, in fact she had suspected something between the two for the longest time now, and evidently with Shaggy and Scooby gone they had finally gained enough privacy to just go for it. After all, it was much easier to avoid just one person rather than two and a dog with an impeccable sense of smell.

Velma felt her gaze upon them and shot a angry and, it seemed, victorious gaze back at her before she leaned against Fred, resting her head against his broad shoulders.

All Daphne could do in response was sigh once again. In her own mind, Velma's suspicious and at times aggressive behavior was completely unjustified.

But she knew that to Velma, all the bespectacled girl was doing was trying to actively dissuade someone whom she knew had an interest in _her_ boyfriend. So Daphne just sat quietly, allowing herself to become enveloped in her own personal thoughts. Most of which quickly gravitated to a certain hippie.

She sighed one more time and gazed longingly out the window at the quickly passing landscape. The world had just seemed to be so bleak lately.

~0~

Fred tightened the ascot around his neck and turned to his girlfriend, who stood lazily nearby, "What do you think Velm? Good right?" she shot a glance at his ascot and he caught the roll to her eyes as she responded, "Looks great Fred, very masculine," Fred let the small dig at his choice of fashion slide, especially as he saw the ghost of a smile flash across the bespectacled woman's face after she had said her due.

No one ever understood the ascot, so he was used to it at this point. With a big grin adorning his face Fred moved in for the kill, his shadow enveloping his girlfriend before wrapping her up in his large embrace. He could feel her struggle for a few moments in confusion before settling into the impromptu hug, and pressing her head into his chest.

Resting his chin on the brunette's head Fred glanced around the dressing area of the department store, looking from clothes rack to clothes rack until his gaze finally settled on their target.

Daphne Blake sat lazily shifting her way through a rack of men's sweaters, barely even looking at each one before moving on to the next. Fred frowned. Daphne's dour mood had been poisoning his mind for a while.

He hadn't paid enough attention to these things in the past, and the price they had paid for that had been Shaggy. He was determined to not repeat his previous mistakes. He hadn't been able to fight Shaggy leaving, he had known in his heart that the lifestyle that they had been leading was not suited for the tall and lanky hippy. He had ignored all the signs, and in the long run the result was evident.

Daphne finally seemed to notice his gaze and glanced over at him, her eyebrows raised in curiosity. Their gazes met and she held it for only a moment before shaking her head wearily and moving on to the next clothing rack, out of sight from the worried leader.

Fred wasn't sure of a lot of things. He had an overwhelming urge to solve problems, but he had no idea how.

A struggling sensation broke him out of his thoughts and he quickly released his girlfriend from his embrace. She backed away from him with a faux angry expression and a blush that could've used at an intersection to stop cars. Fred supressed a smile, despite everything that happened, his time with Velma always made him feel refreshed.

Then it hit him, an answer, at least he hoped it would be an answer. He wasn't certain but he could've sworn that he had seen Daphne glancing over at Shaggy every so often, and her mood ha gone down after he had left, though he had been attributing it to the passing of Scooby Doo… this could work.

Fred looked at Velma, her curious gaze fixed upon him. He smiled brightly. "Hey Velms, You wanna go to New York?"

 **hey, I've hit a bit of writers block on my other story, So I decided to bust out and work on this one a bit, Bit on a Scooby doo kick recently, because of that I got back to this point, and I'm taking another look at how I want to do this, I have not abandoned this work, not quite yet at least. so if you read through this re-upload, thank you, I think I can get another chapter out soon.**


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